AirshipAmbassador wrote:I think one of the problems is the need for a runway.

A runway for an airship?

While it's nice to have some room to maneuver, I don't think you need a runway for an airship that is LTA, certainly not if it has some form of vectored thrust. A hybrid that is HTA and needs a runway to pick up speed and generate dynamic lift, that would be a different story.

AirshipAmbassador wrote:I think one of the problems is the need for a runway.

A runway for an airship?

While it's nice to have some room to maneuver, I don't think you need a runway for an airship that is LTA, certainly not if it has some form of vectored thrust. A hybrid that is HTA and needs a runway to pick up speed and generate dynamic lift, that would be a different story.

Woops, thought you were referring to buying an ultralight airplane as an alternative.Yes, benefit of a personal airship would be that you don't need a runway, unlike with ultralight airplanes.

Thanks for all the replies. I know about hot air ballooning and have considered it, but it's still very different then motorized balloons and I am searching for something with an electric engine that's at least a bit manoeuvrable in low winds.

I think that if the inventor of the 2 airships in the video I posted in my opening post would sell them for a reasonable price, he could set up a successful business. Especially the balloon version since it looks so simple and effective in use, but also easily storable when deflated.

Hydrogen is pretty much the only option, seeing how expensive it is to use helium. I think if you go high altitude and something goes wrong you could always carry one of those simple emergency parachutes if you know how to use them.

I'm still quite ignorant regarding the laws and regulations so my guess is that's one major prohibiter of setting up such a business.

Airshippeer wrote:Hydrogen is pretty much the only option, seeing how expensive it is to use helium.

One thing to note with hydrogen is that the envelope will need be made of conductive material (graphite fibers). This is done on all modern hydrogen balloons, for safety in case of lighting and possibly to lower risk of static electricity building up. So I'm not confident that it would be safe to fly the Aeroplume airship with hydrogen.

I'm still quite ignorant regarding the laws and regulations so my guess is that's one major prohibiter of setting up such a business.

Some balloons and I believe airships in France have been built under new (a few years old) ultralight regulations. The Aeroplume may be one of them. I'm not sure whether those are exclusive to France, or EU-wide. Come to think of it, Cameron Balloons in Bristol built a one-man gas airship many years ago, the DG-14. However, I think it was G-registered and certified as a regular airship. So no easy way around regulation there.

Unless you have over 9% oxygen contamination in your hydgdoren, static electricity will not be able to set it off. I've put spark generators directly into plastic bottles filled with hydrogen and tried to ignite it and you don't get ignition until oxygen levels reach above 9%. That's a very high percentage of oxygen that you wouldn't get anywhere near with commercial hydrogen. Industrial hydrogen is 99.95% pure.

One of the things that does worry me; when you inflate a gasballoon, there's always some air in it before the inflation process. Do they first pump this air out or do they just fill it with hydrogen, or is the amount negligible?